On Wednesday, May 17, the Fulton County Commission commenced its regular weekly meeting by approving the selection of native Atlanta barrister Patrise Perkins-Hooker as the new chair of the county’s Registration and Elections board. The selection reportedly came as a surprise to some commission members and onlookers seated in commission chambers who thought Lee Morris would get the nod after his nomination the week before by Chair Rob Pitts.
But before the vote and opening public comment, Pitts read an e-mail he received from Morris withdrawing his name from consideration. In the note, Morris, a Republican, feared his service as board chair would prove “divisive” and “the last thing I want for our county.”
Notwithstanding the surprise from some Democrats that Pitts, also a member of the party, would nominate Morris, some party leaders and civil and social rights activists had railed against the Morris nod. Many thought that the six days between Pitts’ nomination and the vote scheduled for the 17th left too little time for public input. Other dissenters thought that a Democratic chair made more sense since Fulton County is the state’s most populous and a Democratic stronghold. During the 2020 presidential election, Fulton County attracted the national spotlight through then current President Donald Trump’s demands for a recount of the vote which cost him the election in Georgia and ultimately the rest of the nation. His allegations of fraud which were never proven. In 2021, Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation to determine if Trump and his cronies had violated the law while attempting to throw out Fulton election returns from 2020. In 2021, a bi-partisan review board staffed to evaluate a bill passed in the General Assembly with a majority Republican vote which would, among other things, allow the state to take control of a county’s elections (the target, not surprisingly was Fulton County) was submitted to the state elections board. It recommended against a takeover of Fulton’s election. Morris, in fact , in his withdrawal e-mail for county elections chair, said he “understood the feelings of so many Democrats that a Democratic County should have a Democratic majority on the elections board.”
Speaking of non-partisan, Hooker told WANF (Atlanta news first )and other media after the Fulton Commission meeting of the 17th that she sees no real change in how the election board operates and that her approach will be to operate as the ‘chair’ and “make certain that what happens is the right thing for people in Fulton County.”
Hooker replaces Kathy Wollard, a former member of the Atlanta City Council and one-time candidate for city Mayor whose two-year term expires June 30.
Attorney Perkins-Hooker attended Atlanta Public Schools’ Collier Heights Elementary and Frederick Douglass High in northwest Atlanta. She graduated with honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and earned advance degrees from the Law and Business College of Emory University. She credits her solid foundation in the law from Atlanta native, former Atlanta City Council President and Fulton Superior Court Judge Marvin S. Arrington. On June 7, 2014, she was elected the 52nd, first African-American and third woman president of the State Bar of Georgia.
Last updated on May 26, 2023